Penn State probably has the worst baseball team in the conference, but it's still impressive that the team got its second-straight Big Ten sweep. For some perspective, the team is now 20-14 overall, after winning just 22 games all of last year, and they now have 7 conference victories, after getting just 8 in 2012. As one of the Big Ten baseball experts has tweeted, Erik Bakich at this point has to be the leading candidate for conference coach of the year.

Also, the OP says Northwestern is next. That's Michigan's next Big Ten opponent, but they have two nonconference home games scheduled during the week—Tuesday vs. Notre Dame and Wednesday vs. EMU.

Some teams have already had their bye week and have played 9 games, others have their bye week some time in the next 5 weeks, and have played 12 games. Barring rain, all teams will end up with 24. Wisconsin does not have a baseball team.

The key to making the NCAA tournament is to get a top-2 finish, because the top 2 teams receive byes in the 6-team Big Ten tournament, and it is likely that Michigan will need to win the Big Ten tournament to qualify for the NCAAs.

Have series left with N'W, Indiana, Iowa, Purdue and Nebraska. Schedule sets up well IMO. Small sample sizes to judge those teams on, but we have 3 series against current bottom half teams and two against the teams right behind us. We control our own destiny. Cliche, but true.

For a' that, an' a' that,
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that.